A New Path: Untraditional Matrimony
by kittygirl320
Summary: It is the middle of spring and Jack Frost, the winter mage, has made it snow specifically for this occasion that will surely raise the hopes of those who oppose the Dark Army. This mage is escorting the earth witch, Alice Deane, down the aisle towards her beloved and her new future. Read about a magical wedding for hope and secure love. First to the sequel of A New Path.


**AN: This is my own version of Jack Frost. He is the old god Pan's trusted acquaintance and a winter mage who used to follow Golgoth. The reason Pan and Jack Frost get along is because frost, Jack's specialty, preserves nature, Pan's territory.**

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Alice, trembling from head to toe, took in her surroundings with a glint of astonishment in her big brown eyes. Snow already covered the landscape and as the snow, not cold but warm, met people's skin, the falling snowflakes healed their injuries caused by a battle taken place just a few days ago. Their clothes transformed into clothing suitable for a wedding. They all looked just as astounded as she did.  
Alice's arm wrapped around the winter mage's arm tighter as they turned a corner.  
"Jack…I'm scared. Don't exactly look like a bride, do I?"  
It was true that everything had been shocking. The whole reason this wedding was taking place was to give the people in the County who volunteered to fight the Kobalos hope. The way Pan saw it, if Tom and Alice's, the Kobalos' main target's, relationship wasn't taken any further, then it would be crystal clear they were going to die sometime soon and the whole thing would be all for nothing. Pan had wanted to express his and Jack Frost's generosity and power so, quite cryptically, the invitations clearly stated not to dress any differently for the occasion.  
No one knew what was on Pan's mind – except for Jack Frost.  
In contrast to the bride, Jack strode with an unperturbed smile. His blue eyes, the colour of a frozen lake, looked up at the sky and promised, "You will…"  
Alice had been feeling doubtful since Pan had made this bizarre suggestion one night in the kitchen at Tom's Chipenden house. She still remembered it with boiling blood as Pan sat in that chair by the fire like he owned the place, while Tom and Alice stood uncomfortably, huddling close together. Now Alice was baffled by Jack's words, only for a moment. She soon realised why he strode with such confidence.

The spot in the sky Jack had looked up at was where a sudden spiralling flurry formed. It soon moved down to surround and swirl around Jack and Alice. She glanced up at him but could only catch a smirk. It was the kind where the person knew something the other didn't. The earth witch felt strange in herself and looked down.  
She gasped. In place of her green, tattered silk dress, she wore a beautiful white wedding dress of a medieval gothic renaissance style and it matched her relationship with nature perfectly. The sleeves fell below her knees and the dress itself had gold embroidery and golden flowers were situated comfortably on the shoulders. The dress was glittery – like Alice's pearly white pointy shoes she was wearing all of a sudden. She found her long hair was put into half-up half-down curls, clipped back from her face with crystal barrettes. Crowning her head was a golden tiara with pearls similar to those found in clamshells, but obviously smaller. Extending from the tiara was a two-tier veil with white waterlilies. Her fingernails were no longer painted green but a moonstone colour, her lips rouged.  
The music playing seemed to be performed by the breeze and was a _vuelie reprise_ with a cantus. It appeared to suit the scene before Jack and the bride well.  
Jack Frost was now wearing a dark blue attire with silver embroidery along the neckline and hem of the sleeves. His rowan wood cane which curled around his forearm was no different, however.

Finally, Alice's beloved, Tom Ward, came into view and he looked more handsome than ever. He was standing in front of a wooden arch that Pan was standing under with a pair of white wedding bells above him. The arch was entangled with roses. Pan and Tom were standing on a wooden platform. A long rectangular green rug trailed from the start of the platform, down the steps and along the aisle.

When they came to the steps at the end of the aisle, Jack took Alice's hand and placed it into Tom's. He then stepped to the side with his hands clasped together in front of him.  
As Alice drew level with her husband-to-be, with her free hand, she drew back the top veil from her face with her arm and Tom's breath was swept away with the tranquil breeze. His bride looked positively radiant: as unused to the stares of awe and shock Tom and Alice were receiving though she was, she considered it to be the happiest day of her life.  
The couple couldn't stop smiling as they faced each other, voicing their untraditional wedding vows in a perfect rhythm.  
After the binding words from Pan, "Then by the power of nature invested in me, I pronounce you spook and wife", Alice's hands rested on his arms as Tom's rested on her back. Eyes lazed closed, they leaned in and kissed passionately.

The words had been spoken, the marriage binding, and everything seemed to stop. The world seemed to hold its breath. It was now just Tom and Alice in their private world, just the two of them and no one else.  
Now they knew they belonged together and no one could object, for on their left fourth fingers sat a ring with a woodland theme encircling the band. The one on Alice's finger joined her engagement ring: a moonstone embedded in a rose gold waterlily on a rose gold band.

When they gradually parted their lips for air, still holding onto each other and gazing into each other's eyes, friends and family erupted into cheers and applause.  
Tom and Alice glided back down the aisle hand in hand, showered with white petals as well as snowflakes. A carriage, surprisingly driven by Slither with Nessa beside him, waited for them.  
Nessa jumped down and opened the door.  
Tom helped Alice inside first before he climbed in also. Nessa then closed the door before she joined Slither at the front again.  
With a click of the reins, Slither drove the carriage along the dusty track, heading for the Chipenden house.

Jenny Calder who was with the crowd, once sitting on the white garden benches, and sighed. She was to stay with Tom's family back at the farm for a week to allow her master and Alice some time to adjust to their new married life. It was just another reminder she'd never have a chance with Tom. It was Alice who had always been for him right from the start.

It was a new beginning for the spook and his earth witch who everyone believed would be a world apart. Not anymore.  
It was their time to live their happily ever after.  
Until the next obstacle.


End file.
